Open History Book

Mehmed II and the Fall of Constantinople

1451 – 1453: The young sultan

18 February – November 1451Mehmed takes the throne, 1451 Summer – autumn 1451Karaman, 1451 Spring 1452 – January 1453The castle on the Bosporus, 1452 26 October 1452 – 5 April 1453Before the siege, 1452–1453

1453: Constantinople

Siege of Constantinople, 1453

2 – 6 April 1453The walls and the armies 2 – 18 April 1453The chain across the Horn 11 – 18 April 1453The guns open fire 20 April 1453The four ships 21 April – 18 May 1453The ships cross the hill 16 – 28 May 1453Mines and the last offer 29 May 1453The assault of 29 May 29 – 30 May 1453The fall of the city

29 May 1453 – April 1454After the fall, 1453–1454 1453 – October 1454The Morea revolt, 1453–1454

1454 – 1456: Serbia and Belgrade

April – November 1454Serbia, 1454 April – June 1455Novo Brdo, 1455 1455 – 1456Foça and the islands, 1455–1456

Siege of Belgrade, 1456

13 June – 13 July 1456The armies at Belgrade 14 July 1456The battle on the Danube 15 – 21 July 1456The assault of 21 July 22 – 23 July 1456The sortie of 22 July

August 1456 – January 1458After Belgrade, 1456–1458

1451 – 1457: Skanderbeg holds Albania

26 March 1451 – 22 April 1453Skanderbeg and Aragon, 1451–1453 June 1455 – 1456Berat, 1455 May – 23 December 1457Albulena, 1457

1458 – 1461: Corinth, Smederevo and Mistra

15 May – autumn 1458Corinth and Athens, 1458 20 February 1458 – 1460Smederevo, 1458–1460 January 1459 – July 1461The end of the Morea, 1459–1461

1460 – 1462: Trebizond, Wallachia and Lesbos

Autumn 1460 – 1461Amasra and Sinop, 1460–1461 Summer – 15 August 1461Trebizond, 1461 November 1461 – February 1462Vlad’s war on the Danube, 1462 May – November 1462The night attack, 1462 August – September 1462Lesbos, 1462

1462 – 1466: Bosnia and the war with Venice

April – June 1463Bosnia, 1463 November 1462 – 1465War with Venice, 1462–1465 1463 – 1464Jajce, 1463–1464 Summer 1463 – 1466Herzegovina, 1463–1466

1461 – 1468: Skanderbeg’s last wars

17 April 1461 – August 1462Apulia and Mokra, 1461–1462 April 1463 – September 1464Ohrid, 1463–1464 April – August 1465Vaikal and Kashar, 1465 April 1466 – February 1467Krujë and Elbasan, 1466 February 1467 – 17 January 1468Krujë, 1467–1468

1464 – 1472: Karaman and Negroponte

1464 – 1469Karaman, 1464–1469 April – August 1466Athens and Patras, 1466 3 June – July 1470Negroponte, 1470 1471 – 1472The Karaman coast, 1471–1472

1466 – 1475: Uzun Hasan

1466 – 1469The White Sheep, 1466–1469 1472Tokat and Kıreli, 1472

Battle of Otlukbeli, 1473

April – August 1473The march to the Euphrates 4 August 1473The ambush on the Euphrates 11 August 1473The battle of 11 August

August 1473 – 1475Karaman ends, 1473–1475

1471 – 1476: Moldavia, the Crimea and Šabac

1465 – January 1475Vaslui, 1475 May – December 1475Caffa and Theodoro, 1475 June 1476 – January 1477Valea Albă, 1476 January 1474 – February 1476Šabac, 1474–1476

1474 – 1479: Shkodër and the peace with Venice

Spring – 8 August 1474Shkodër, 1474 Spring – late 1477Friuli and Krujë, 1477 April – September 1478Shkodër, 1478 25 January – September 1479The peace with Venice, 1479

Istanbul and the empire

1453 – 1481Istanbul rebuilt, 1453–1481 1453 – 1481The sultan’s law 1461 – 1480The sultan’s court

1479 – 1481: The last campaigns

Summer 1479 – November 1480Breadfield, 1479 23 May – 17 August 1480Rhodes, 1480 July 1480 – 10 September 1481Otranto, 1480–1481 April – 22 May 1481Mehmed’s death, 1481

1451 – 1481

Mehmed II and the Fall of Constantinople

Mehmed II's thirty years on the Ottoman throne: the siege and fall of Constantinople in 1453, the conquest of Serbia, the Morea, Trebizond and Bosnia, the wars with Hunyadi, Skanderbeg, Vlad III, Venice, Uzun Hasan and Stephen the Great, and the landing at Otranto in 1480.